Alright guys I'm back pretty quickly. Sorry if this chapter seems rushed, and that's because it kinda is. More important stuff at the bottom, and this is a pretty unimportant chapter plot wise. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy.
Breathing. That was all the sound in the silent room. No more crying. There were no more tears left to be shed. Yes, Ike was still in the infirmary. It had been a couple of weeks since the incident, and Ike was now officially in a coma. This didn't brighten anyone spirits. This meant there was no telling when he'd wake up. It could be the next day or a year. Anyone had about as good of a guess as the next person.
Ruby looked a lot like Garnet had. Never leaving Ike's side, and only doing so when she had classes or had to eat. Yang attempted to make her happy by saying things like, "He wouldn't want you to feel sorry for him," or, "He'll be alright. The doctors know what they're doing." But these attempts all ended with just a "ya" or "I guess so". The class had taken a trip to Forever Fall and Jaune was finally getting better, but it seemed like Ruby was only getting worse. Meanwhile Ike was having an entirely different adventure.
-Ike's Head-
Ike stood in a forest, surrounded by nothing but fire. He spun and decapitated his last opponent. The head of a pack of Beowolves. Ike doubled over panting in exhaustion. "There they're dead. Now can you let me out?"
"But were having so much fun. Don't you like cutting up these creatures?" A voice said from nowhere. The voice didn't surprise Ike at all. He had been doing this for a week after all.
"I just want to go back to the real world. I sick of something messing with my head!" Ike roared.
"Ahh, but Ike I'm not something. I'm you." A black figure then began to arise from the ground. Ike looked on in horror as the figure finally took its full shape. It was a silhouetted version of himself. "Don't you see Ike? We're the same person. I suppose you would call me your rage. Or maybe guilt? Whatever you want to call me, I'm the dark areas of your mind. The places you don't want to go. Even now as we speak you only aid me with your fear."
Ike realized that there wasn't much he could do at this point, so he just played along with the game. "Fine, what's next then?"
"You tell me. This is your head. I'm just the thing fabricating the obstacles you set for yourself." The figure said calmly.
"That's a lie! Why would I keep myself here? Why would I constantly beat myself up?!" Ike roared. The black figure then disappeared, and the voice from nowhere returned.
"I told you Ike, I'm the bad parts of you. Your guilt. You want to punish yourself for your misdeeds, and I' simply helping. Now for the next test."
"What test? I didn't tell you a test!"
"Ahh, but you did. You just don't know it." The voice started to trail off to the end. The ground began to shake as it was changed. Eventually a bright light appeared all around Ike, but this had become normal for him. He simply closed his eyes and waited for it to stop.
In front of him stood a giant pyramid, with only one way in. In the air were floating purple letters, that read 'Now that your body is worn out, let's test your mind. This, my friend, is a puzzle. Figure it out."
"A puzzle what kind of puzzle?" Ike thought to himself.
"Only one way to find out." Dark Ike said.
"Would you stop reading my thoughts!?" Ike yelled, but no response came. Blue walked into the pyramid, to see a rather simple puzzle. In front of him was a door, with words that read 'Complete the puzzle and move on.' On the right side of the wall was a giant sliding puzzle. It was fairly simple, there's only one block open, and you have to slide the pieces around and make the correct picture.
Luckily Ike's subconscious even gave him the picture. It was just a sunset. He set to work, and after about five minutes of sliding the pieces around, he slide the final piece into the correct spot. "Done." He announced. He wasn't though, because as he slide the last piece in the board was rescrambled and completely different from before. Words the appeared in the air in front of him. 'Look around before you act.'
"Look around? What does that mean?" Ike began to scan the room for something off. He checked the door and found nothing. He checked all the walls, and yet again found nothing. It wasn't until he was pacing around, when he stepped on a small button on the floor, on the opposite side of the room from the puzzle. The object sank in, and as it did the puzzle flipped over to reveal a new one, along with a new picture. Ike set back to work, and yet again eventually slide the last piece in place. However, the puzzle rescrabbled just like the first on. "I'll be here for a while."
Ike messed with both the puzzle and the room for hours. He searched for more buttons thinking there was another puzzle, but there wasn't. He attempted doing half of one and then half of the other, but that didn't work either. Ike sat on the ground, and simply stared at the puzzles for a while when it hit him. Finish at the same time! Ike yet again realigned the sliders, until they were one away from both being done. "Now how to finish at the same time?"
He pulled out Aeolus, and fired an arrow at the tile, but it did nothing. He tried shooting the button, but yet again nothing. "It only works when a living thing touches one of them, but I can't be in two places at once." Ike sat down and began thinking again. It took a while, but eventually the simplest place came into his head. "It's my head, I can make whatever I want." He set upon reforming himself, and eventually a blue light shone from the floor. As it died down, another Ike stood in the middle.
"How can I help?" Ike 2 asked.
"Just press the button when I tell you too." Ike 1 responded. "Okay?"
"Pushing it!" Ike 2 announced, before hitting the button and flipping the puzzles.
"Why'd you do that?!"
"You said okay."
"I meant okay as in get ready, not okay go." As soon as Ike 1 said go Ike 2 hit the button again. "STOP FLIPPING IT!"
"You said go." Ike 2 said defending himself.
"Holy Monty you're a moron."
"You know you're starting to sound like Michael." Monty 2 commented.
"DON'T EVEN THINK THAT! I'M NOWHERE AS ANGRY AS HIM!"
"Whatever you say." Ike 2 mumbled under his breath. These teamwork arguments lasted for a while, and the blame was on both sides. Ike 2 would hit the button too soon, or too late. While Ike 1 would either miss the tiles all together, or he would only hit one, and have to reconstruct that puzzle. This would then lead to an argument that sounded a lot like something that would come from the members of team LADS. The two would then ended up upset at each other, but then remember they're working for the same goal. Eventually they came up with the acronym WAFFLEO, which stood for 'We're All Friends, Friends Love Each Other.' Ike 2 thought it would just be WAFFLE, but forgot each other is two words. One of the two would simply say WAFFLEO when the argument got too heated, and they would begin working again.
"Alright." Ike 1 said fuming with rage. "On the count of three hit the button, then I'll wait one second for your reaction time, then clap my hands."
"Is it 1, 2, 3, go, or go on 3?"
"It's go on 3! Like it has been for the past hour!"
"Alright just making sure."
"Fine. Ready?" Ike 1 asked, which Ike 2 responded to with a nod. "Good, 1… 2…. 3!" Ike 2 stepped on the button, and the wall flipped. As it did Ike 1 clapped his hands on both sides, and hit the correct tiles. The two tiles slid in place simultaneously, and a beam of light shot straight at the door, which then opened. "Well that only took forever."
"Sure did. Next time do better." Ike 1's jaw dropped upon hearing that. "Now I'm leaving before you can yell, Bye!" Ike 2 then disappeared into the beam light, leaving only bits of dust. The Ike left standing gave an exhausted sigh and walked through the door.
After walking up a few stairs Ike finally reached a much larger room. Inside there was a table with a book on it titled, 'Chess for Idiots.' Then there was a giant chess board that took up the entire room. "Finally, I give myself a break." Ike said to himself. While working with the organization Blue found a love for chess, and one that he still carried to that day. Over the years he had become quite good at the game.
The archer walked behind the white pieces, and all the pieces lit up to show the match started. His invisible opponent wasn't doing anything too terribly complicated. It made smart sacrifices, and even a few advanced maneuverers. Ike was forced to play defense the entire game, until eventually he lost. "Shocker, I can beat myself." The teen then sighed and said, "I should've known this wouldn't be easy."
The person beating himself played game after game, and tried every tactic he could think of. He would try to make a strong line with the pawns, instantly rush the bishops and knights in, and he even tried throwing hi queen into the opponent's backfield to cause damage, but it appeared nothing would work. In the end Ike's opponent would always trap his king and demolish it. Eventually Ike had had enough, when he thought of something. "Maybe it's rigged so that black always wins."
Ike changed and became the commander of the black forces. He played another well fought game, but yet again lost. He resorted to the most childish of tactics, and copied all his opponent's moves, but this yet again failed. It was at this point Ike was frustrated beyond belief, when another thing occurred to him. "I know how to play chess. Why would there be a book telling me how to play?"
Ike walked back over to the small table and picked up the poorly titled book. He scanned through the pages, but nothing seemed too odd. There were basic rules, tactics, and how to win, but nothing saying how to beat this mastermind of an opponent. Then as he flipped to the last page something was off. The only thing written in it said, 'Sometimes you must do anything to win.' An evil smile appeared on his face, as he knew exactly what this meant. Cheating.
Ike returned to the white army, and began to move through the enemy ranks. His idea was simple. Any piece can move anywhere, however the game was smarter than that. As his opponent began to understand this new tactic, it mimicked it. Every piece could move anywhere, and yet again Ike lost. "Great I even suck at cheating." Ike mumbled.
As he tried different made up rules, one thought never occurred to Ike. It was only until his 63rd loss that he finally understood what he had to do. Ike started the game up for a final time, and instantly walked out onto the board. Eventually he hit the wall of pawns, but he slashed right through them with this blades. He then marched right up to the enemy king and looked up at him. The king piece simply stood and did nothing. The cheater jumped into the air and decapitated the most important piece. As its head shattered on the ground the door to the third and final room opened. Ike walked through, but not before saying one very satisfying word. "Checkmate."
Ike walked into the last room, and the door slammed shut behind him. The final room contained nothing but two levers. One on his right, and one on his left. "What am I supposed to do here?" He asked out loud. Then Dark Ike reappeared in front of him.
"This will be the easiest test yet. You must choose better two people you care about so much. Your bother." James then appeared directly to the right of Dark Ike. "Or your girlfriend." Ruby then appeared on his left. "Pull the lever to your left, and you send James falling to his death. Pull the right one, and Ruby will fall. Now choose." Ike didn't want to choose though. Even though he knew none of this was real, he couldn't stand the thought of having to kill one of the two.
"There has to be a trick to it. Maybe if I pull both levers nobody dies. Then again, what if that kills both of them."
"How about this for motivation. Pull a lever within the next minute or they both fall."
This made Ike think even more frantically. "I doubt there's a way to save both of them. This is basically evil me, and there's no way this ends that happily. So I have to make the right choice. Maybe this is a blood is thicker than water thing? Then again what if this is meant to meant to be about not relying on your family forever? Ugh, I could always guess and take a fifty/fifty shot. Ya that was a dumb thought. Alright what else could it be?" But that was all the more time Ike had to think.
"Times up." Dark Ike practically sang. "Who's it gonna be? You're loving brother, or sweet and caring Ruby?"
"Well might as well try it." Ike thought as he pulled the left lever. The floor under James disappeared, and so did he. All Ike could hear is the horrid scream of his brother falling, until it abruptly stopped.
"Oooo that sounded painfu. Wow, your pretty cold. Now, onto the next test." Dark Ike said as the ground began to shake.
Then a much more divine voice spoke from behind Ike. "There won't be a next test." The exhausted teen turned around to see the exact opposite of his tormentor. It was a pure, shining, white Ike.
"Who are you?" Both dark and regular Ike asked.
"I would be the good side of you. You have met your guilt and pain, but I am your forgiveness, and your joy. I am everything he is not!" Light Ike then pointed directly at Dark Ike.
"You obviously don't understand. I'm in charge not you!" Dark Ike then charged his opposite, with a dark Nero and Ichor in hand. He swung the evil weaponry at the good side, but Light Ike simply caught it. He then raised his hand and placed it upon the dark side's head. The evil version screamed out him pain as he sank to his knees. Eventually Dark fell to the ground and sank into it.
"Now that he is gone we can send you home." Light then turned to look at regular. "Are you ready?" Regular simply nodded, before being consumed in a pillar of light. "It's nice to see you have let go of the past. Your future will be a difficult one, but not impossible. I wish you the best of luck, and know that I'm always inside your head." And with that the bright light turned to darkness.
Ike slowly opened his eyes, and was overcome by joy. He was in the infirmary, but the infirmary in the real world. He looked over at the red and black girl sleeping in his arms. He kissed her forehead and said, "Time to get up."
Ruby slowly stirred awake, but then realized who had woken her up. Ike was finally back. She hugged him tighter than ever and tear began to fill her eyes. "I was so worried about you! Please never leave me like that again!"
Ike hugged his girlfriend back. "I promise I won't."
So that's that. This chapter kinda sparked a path for another story idea, but a new story won't be started until this one is finished. Now for the important part. I will be taking a short break to relax and recharge my brain. I won't be long, but the next chapter will take 3 or 4 days longer than the usual waiting time. So sorry about that, but I know I'll be busy pretty soon and I don't want to make a god awful chapter. Anyways, I hope you guys didn't hate this chapter too much, and personally I believe this is the worst one I've wrote so far. Make sure you leave a review and pm me if you want to. See ya next time!